Avon welcomes new GM, sales and marketing heads

In August 2017 No. 1 direct selling beauty company Avon Philippines welcomed Razvan Diratian as its new general manager along with Agnieszka Isa, new head for marketing, and Raffy Lim, new head for sales.

Razvan Diratian who hails from Romania brings over his wealth of experience and expertise from his eightyear stint as general manager of Avon Romania and Moldova.

He joined Avon Romania in 1999 as a sales analyst, became a sales support officer in 2003 and climbed up the corporate ladder starting with his promotion to business integration manager in 2006, after which he became the general manager of Avon Romania in 2009, taking over the Moldovan market as well. Diratian held the position until his recent move to the Philippines.

Diratian’s leadership saw Avon Romania achieving 18 quarters of consecutive growth and innovation through a flexible, responsive and representative-focused approach and management strategy. This complemented Diratian’s passion in developing strong and talented associate teams.

During his tenure as general manager, Avon Romania’s business model evolution increased revenue and operating margins. He enabled Romanian Avon representatives to conveniently order products anytime and any way they want, which led to a 95 percent increase in representative satisfaction rate as well as the highest representative count in five years.

In 2016, Romania entered the top 15 Avon markets, registering the highest business growth of over ten percent, and achieving leadership position for cosmetics category. Avon Romania has also been recognized as a top employer in 2016 and 2017 under Diratian’s watch.

“Similar to Romania and Moldova, I firmly believe that the heart of Avon Philippines’ business lies in our representatives’ contribution. I look forward to working with the highly spirited and talented Avon Philippines team. I am optimistic that the exchange of valuable insights and knowledge would propel Avon Philippines to even greater heights,” Diratian says.

Raffy Lim joined Avon Philippines as executive director for sales, bearing over 23 years leadership experience in the FMCG, healthcare, food and beverage, and direct selling industry including International experience in Indonesia. He is a career sales leader with extensive experiences in trade marketing, modern trade, and general trade operations. Business and financial acumen counts among his key areas of strength along with supply chain.

Prior to joining Avon, Raffy was vice president for sales and branch operations at Personal Collections Direct Selling Inc. He was sales director for general trade at Del Monte Philippines Inc.; sales director at Wyeth Consumer Healthcare (now Pfizer Consumer Healthcare); senior channel development manager at Johnson & Johnson Philippines & Indonesia. Agnieszka Isa joined Avon Philippines as executive director for commercial marketing effective Aug. 1, 2017. Agnieszka’s Avon career began in 2001 when she joined the Central Eastern Europe Commercial Marketing team in Warsaw. Through the years, she held roles of increasing responsibility within Marketing. In 2009, she moved to South Africa as the Commercial Marketing Director leading the teams for both the Avon and Justine brands. During this time, she a significant role in making Avon Justine take the position as the 2nd biggest beauty company in South Africa.

Prior to her Philippines’ assignment, Agnieszka was the marketing executive director for Turkey and the North Africa and Middle East Cluster. During this period, Agnieszka’s drive and passion resulted in revamping the consumer value proposition, enhancing the brochures, and pioneering several “first time ever” initiatives in PR, consumer, and digital activation.

Avon Philippines is Avon’s Top 4 globally and is considered as Avon’s largest market in Asia Pacific. In the Philippines, Avon enjoys No. 1 positions for the makeup, fragrance, hand and body lotions, and intimate apparel categories.

The company, which is set to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2018, is considered a staunch crusader for the domestic violence campaign and the biggest corporate supporter of the breast cancer crusade, annually raising funds for the maintenance and upkeep of the Philippine General Hospital Breast Care Center.

More information on Avon Philippines can be found at www.avon.ph.